Homage to the late Sen. Ted Stevens is showing up in an unexpected place in the Alaska Senate race: Democrat Scott McAdams’s latest campaign advertisement.

Stevens, a beloved figure in Alaska politics, passed away in a plane crash just two weeks before Sen. Lisa Murkowski unexpectedly lost the GOP primary to attorney Joe Miller. Murkowski was personally and politically close to Stevens – and she’s even indicated that she plans to run some of the television advertisements that Stevens recorded on her behalf before his death for her write-in campaign to keep her seat.

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POLITICO 44

But with the Stevens recordings still in Murkowski’s vault one month until Election Day, McAdams is the first general election candidate invoking the Alaska political legend and longest-serving Republican senator in history in an advertisement. In the most recent TV spot, Tie Rack,” McAdams tries on several neckties, to try to look “senatorial,” ending with a shot of an “Incredible Hulk” necktie – a trademark of Stevens, who often donned clothing featuring the Marvel Comics character during some of his most passionate speeches on the Senate floor.

“It’s about Alaska and getting our fair share again. We used to have a senator like that,” says McAdams in the ad.

Stevens left office in 2009, and in his absence, Murkowski has made her Senate seniority a campaign issue, arguing that the state needs her to hold on to her position to direct money and infrastructure projects back home. Murkowski name-drops Stevens frequently: She mentioned him several times at her write-in campaign kick-off on Sept. 17, even recalling that he called her “the best partner I could ever have in the United States Senate.”

Murkowski’s campaign expressed disapproval with the advertisement. Murkowski spokesman Steve Wackowski, a former Stevens aide, said the ad was not fitting of his former boss.

“To paraphrase a famous Democrat, I knew Ted Stevens. Ted Stevens was a friend of mine; and Scott McAdams is no Ted Stevens. No necktie can change that fact,” said Wackowski.

Recent polling also indicates that McAdams and Murkowski are fighting for electoral turf in the Senate race. A CNN/Time poll released earlier this week showed Miller pulling in 38 percent of the vote, Murkowski with 36 percent and McAdams with 22 percent.

But polls taken before Murkowski announced her write-in campaign showed a competitive race between Miller and McAdams: A Rasmussen Reports poll from Aug. 31 showed Miller leading McAdams, 50 percent to 44 percent.

Meanwhile, Murkowski released an advertisement not featuring Stevens, but knocking Miller for a series of updates on Twitter during his trip to Washington, D.C. this week while he was in town for several fundraising events. Miller tweeted that he was picking out “some office furniture” and doing some “house hunting” – and, rather unsubtly: “Then there’s the matter of a name plaque for the door.”

The announcer in Murkowski’s latest radio advertisement counters, “The name on the door still reads: MUR-KOW-SKI.”

The tweets, which were published online Wednesday, were deleted – but not before they were captured by several news media outlets and opposing campaigns. A spokesman for Miller, Randy DeSoto, said a volunteer wrote those tweets and that person no longer will have access to the GOP nominee’s account.

Before the Alaska primaries in August, no one gave any Democrat a chance -- it was a safe Republican seat. After the GOP primary, the result was the same -- it was a safe Republican seat for Miller. After Murkowski announced her write-in campaign, the result is still the same -- one of the two Republican candidates would win (despite Democrat McAdams being a decent guy and Mayor of Sitka which by the way is bigger than Wascilla).

So this was never going to be good news for Democrats -- or is it, in fact, excellent news for Democrats? The GOP-TEA in all its factions are now being forced to spend $3 million plus to battle each other to the death. That's $3 million plus dollars that are not going to help other Republican candidates in other tough races like Angle, Paul and O'Donnell, etc. This "safe Republican" contest is tying up their money in a race that most likely won't change the make up of the Senate, the stated goal of the GOP Washington establishment. But Democrats can celebrate this colossal waste of their opponents' funds.

And so maybe the seat stays Republican but at a tremendous cost to their Party.

Yet, strange things happen in a three-way race. You can never be sure of the outcome. A quick history lesson: Democrat Mark Begich won his two-way Senate race in "solid Red" Alaska in 2008 -- against "much-beloved Ted Stevens." Yes, Stevens was under a cloud of ethics suspicions that hurt him but the fact remains that the Democrat was victorious in a year when the McCain-Palin team swept the state's electoral votes. A look at recent and past elections show Democrats just about always get a minimum of 38-40% of the votes even in poor campaigns. If McAdams impresses the independent spirit of Alaskans, and they get turned off by the vitriol of Miller and the venom of Murkowski, perchance he can squeak by in a three-way battle.

Another big loser: Governor-interrupted Ms. Palin. Yes, she draws crowds but this fractious fight hurts her if she runs for President and has to go back and repair her reputation in her "safe" Republican state.

First, it was revealed that he got federal farm subsidies after he said he was against them

Then it was revealed that he got a $5 indigent fishing license in 1995 a month or two AFTER he got a $70,000 attorney job- and one of the requirements for an indigent license is that annual family income in the preceding 12 months is less than $8200. To make matters worse, it was revealed that not only did his wife get an indident license in 1995, she also got one in 1996- when without doubt and attorney weaseling the Miller family made more than $8200.

And while the Millers were welfare cheats, they got a mortgage in 1994 for $92,000 and in 1995 got a building permit to add a $100,000 addition. How do indigents do that?

There are 2 icons to which Joe Miller can be compared: Ronald Reagan and Wally Hickel. Both brought themselves up by their bootstraps. Hickel arrived in Alaska with less than a dollar in his pocket and found a job right away.

Can you imagine either of them getting jobs and then also applying for a welfare fishing license like Joe Miller did?